Recently, as documents are electronized, it becomes popular to share electronic documents in a server. A client can search for a document managed in the server, and edit or print the document.
In order to efficiently print a document, there is proposed a technique in which a computer that has issued a print request saves print data, monitors a reprint request from a printer, and if receiving a request, retransmits the saved print data to the printer (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-105381). There is also proposed a technique in which print data is saved in a printer, and when a document associated with the print data is to be edited by a computer, the document can be edited and printed again on the basis of the print data saved in the printer (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-86813).
By either technique, when a document managed by a server is to be printed by a client, each client must temporarily copy the target electronic document from the server, and issue a print request for the copied document to a printer. This prolongs the time taken for print processing, and increases the load on a network or client. The above-mentioned prior arts try to efficiently achieve print processing (especially reprinting) by temporarily saving print data. According to the invention described in either reference, to reprint from a client, print data is finally transmitted to a printer and printed. It is, therefore, inevitable to increase the traffic in the network environment and decrease the processing efficiency and productivity by repetition of the same processing.